Partnership For A Drug Free America

Children who learn about the risks of drugs at home from their parents are much less likely to fall prey to narcotics than those who do not, according to a nationwide survey released today. "All this data really just screams at parents" to take an active role in their children's activities, especially in light of the Littleton tragedy, said Steve Dnistrian, executive vice president of the nonprofit Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which did the study.

Children who learn about the risks of drugs at home from their parents are much less likely to fall prey to narcotics than those who do not, according to a nationwide survey released today. "All this data really just screams at parents" to take an active role in their children's activities, especially in light of the Littleton tragedy, said Steve Dnistrian, executive vice president of the nonprofit Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which did the study.

What do various drugs look like? What are their street names? How should you talk to your kids about them? Partnership for a DRUG FREE AMERICA has answers at its new Web site: http://www.drugfree america.org.

Kay Koplovitz, president and chief executive officer of USA Network, will receive the Jerusalem Award of the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center Jerusalem, Western Region, at a dinner Jan. 9 at the Beverly Hilton. Koplovitz has been active in National Junior Achievement, the New York City Partnership and the Partnership for a Drug Free America, and is a supporter of Shaare Zedek's efforts to bring health care to the people of Israel.

Marijuana use among U.S. preteens doubled in 1996, researchers reported at the kickoff of a new media blitz aimed at getting parents involved in the war against drugs. "Drugs can no longer be regarded as a teenage problem only," Ginna Marston of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America told a news conference. Citing the partnership's ninth annual study of U.S. drug use, Marston said marijuana use among pre-teenagers had increased from about 230,000 children in 1995 to 460,000 children in 1996.

Teenagers' drug use is leveling off amid growing evidence that America's youth, which once viewed drugs as almost a rite of passage, now views them as uncool, according to the annual survey by the New York-based Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The 12th survey of U.S. teenagers found that 40% of those questioned felt "really cool" teens did not use drugs--an increase of 5 percentage points from last year.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America wholeheartedly supports the concept of developing a national advertising campaign targeting underage drinking. But your June 16 editorial misses the essence of our concerns regarding an amendment to the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. You can target illegal drugs with advertising. Backed by the proper research, you can do the same for underage drinking. But you cannot do both effectively with the current federal appropriation. That's the issue.

When it comes to illicit drugs, the children of the '90s are saying "no" more and more often, according to NEA Today, the newspaper of the National Education Assn. The number of 13-year-olds who have tried marijuana has declined 52% since 1987, while those trying cocaine has decreased by 69%. This news is from a survey of shoppers at 100 malls conducted for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

Five people, all believed to be Americans, were killed when their 12-seat white water raft overturned in a stretch of wild water in British Columbia, police reported. According to U.S. relatives, one of the victims was Richard T. O'Reilly, 65, director of the New York-based Media Advertising Partnership for a Drug-Free America. O'Reilly, head of a Connecticut agency that bears his name, also handled advertising for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential campaign.

Re "Anti-Drug Pitch Goes Wide," editorial, Sept. 22: The government tells you that marijuana is as bad as heroin, funds terrorists and, if you use it, you will go mad and kill people. Anyone who takes a single puff can tell you that those are lies. The real problem with marijuana is that it is illegal and therefore unregulated and untaxed. If the state would grow and sell marijuana to adults, who buy it anyway, it would make/save about $10 billion a year. If a third of this money was given to local police, a third to education and a third went into the general coffers, California would soon be out of debt.